I began today watching the Tour de la Provence adding the cyclocross race Brussels Universities X20 Badkamers Trofee. Nothing like watching two races at the same time. I muted the road race until the cyclocross race finished. Watching the racers climb Mont Ventoux with snow on the side of the road got me prepared for riding the Tour de Zwift Stage 1 make up group ride later at 12:03 PM. This was the only stage I missed when the TDZ began. Plenty of Zwifters logged into the game wwith 27,579 when I signed in but not all in the TDZ. When I closed out the number was just over 20,000.

Stage 1 took place in New York Central Park on The 6 Train route. Three 4 mile laps with a .1 mile lead-in totaling 12.1 miles and 679 feet of climbing by the time I stopped the ride I biked 12.5 miles and climbed 702 feet. I never rode this route before. Looking at ZwiftInsider.com the course description, “New York’s “The 6 Train” is the shortest route available for free-riding around NYC. Named for the most direct subway route between Grand Central Station and Central Park, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a clockwise direction.” The climbing included 3 times up an 11% grade. The first time caught me by surprise because the profile changed and then up. I stood on the pedals to get to the top each time, something I don’t do often. I forgot to shift to an easier gear. the profile per lap.

Outside my home the winter weather ruled with 38 degrees at the start and 40 when I finished. Reading the forecast from SpaceCityWeather.com it looks like the next time the temperature will be 60 or above will be next Saturday. This will impact reaching my road miles goal for February. I may ride 500 miles, which hits my goal, but not with the breakdown I planned. I am at 302.43 miles after today’s Zwift ride. 169.5 miles on the road versus my 400 mile goal and 132.9 miles Zwifting versus a 100 mile goal.

During the ride nearby Zwifters showed 265 with me in the 150 range for laps 1 and 2 falling back to 171 as I neared the finish. On ZwiftPower.com I was 79th out of 101. This is a ride and not a race so positions are not fought for.

Yesterday my heart rate monitor dropped the signal too many times to count. Today was much better with maybe 3 or 4 shorts drops, 2 of them when I was out of the saddle climbing the 11% mountain. I didn’t try to reconnect but let it run its course. The popularity of Zwift opens up websites to analyze just about anything Zwift related. Zwiftalizer.com analyzes the wireless connections. I didn’t look at yesterday’s but here is today’s.

Device 2 (device 3 is the cadence sensor) is my heart rate monitor. My desktop computer sits on the floor while my router is about 5 feet above the floor. The cadence sensor is about the same level as the desktop computer. The usual culprit is WiFi signal. I need to change my phone to the 5Ghz WiFi band. My desktop is wired to the router. I am surprised the Wahoo Snap trainer has the highest RX fails. The next ride I will use a USB extension cable to see if the RX fails lowers.